“I know people who bow their heads in submission to Allah five times a day. They ask Him repeatedly to forgive them their sins. Yet when it comes time for them to forgive others, the offense is always too great to be pardoned.”
I posted this as my status on Facebook two days ago. I got many likes, some shares and a few comments showing their agreement and how much the message hit home to them.
When I originally had the thought my sentiments came from the belief that if the force that is so mighty (i.e. Allah swt) as to have no need to forgive His creation can reassure us repeatedly of His desire to offer us forgiveness simply if we ask, then who are we to withhold such pardon to other mortals? What rank do we hold? Comparatively: none.
While it was just an observation of behaviour, I thought about it some more and a new question came up…
Is it unreasonable to expect that mere mortals should have the same capacity to forgive trespasses against them as Allah?
Am I expecting too much of His creation?
and i think Allah is telling hazrat abu bakr siddique after the incident of slander against ayesha radi Allah ta'alla.and obviously this is for all of us..i keep remind myself this below verse of surah nur..thought sometime i find myself very difficult to forgive others when someones cheat or lie or decieve like seriously these things make me so hard to forgive others..but at the end who i am..i do sin differently may Allah forgive us ameen..and i myself would like to be forgiven for wrong doings i do daily.
And let not those of virtue among you and wealth swear not to give [aid] to their relatives and the needy and the emigrants for the cause of Allah, and let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (22)surah nur
"I know people who bow their heads in submission to Allah five times a day. They ask Him repeatedly to forgive them their sins. Yet when it comes time for them to forgive others, the offense is always too great to be pardoned."
I posted this as my status on Facebook two days ago. I got many likes, some shares and a few comments showing their agreement and how much the message hit home to them.
When I originally had the thought my sentiments came from the belief that if the force that is so mighty (i.e. Allah swt) as to have no need to forgive His creation can reassure us repeatedly of His desire to offer us forgiveness simply if we ask, then who are we to withhold such pardon to other mortals? What rank do we hold? Comparatively: none.
While it was just an observation of behaviour, I thought about it some more and a new question came up.....
Is it unreasonable to expect that mere mortals should have the same capacity to forgive trespasses against them as Allah?
Am I expecting too much of His creation?
Well your earlier comment in quotes is undeniably true.
We all should remember that the time is coming when we'll be desperately seeking forgiveness from ALLAH and as well as fellow beings as none of them is so angelic not to cause any offense to even a single person in entire life. But yes its true that when it comes to we forgiving others, our emotions often overshadow our wisdom and knowledge. The funnier part is that we are explained these rules and we know wuts coming ahead. Despite all that we still tend to become all stiffed and cocky when we are supposed to "let go" and move on.
I have been working on my ability to forgive people......for the most part I've discovered that it's not hard once you put into perspective how little time we have here on earth and how insignificant the impact of our "narazgi" can be.
"I know people who bow their heads in submission to Allah five times a day. They ask Him repeatedly to forgive them their sins. Yet when it comes time for them to forgive others, the offense is always too great to be pardoned."
I posted this as my status on Facebook two days ago. I got many likes, some shares and a few comments showing their agreement and how much the message hit home to them.
When I originally had the thought my sentiments came from the belief that if the force that is so mighty (i.e. Allah swt) as to have no need to forgive His creation can reassure us repeatedly of His desire to offer us forgiveness simply if we ask, then who are we to withhold such pardon to other mortals? What rank do we hold? Comparatively: none.
While it was just an observation of behaviour, I thought about it some more and a new question came up.....
Is it unreasonable to expect that mere mortals should have the same capacity to forgive trespasses against them as Allah?
Am I expecting too much of His creation?
If you're expecting creation to be as forgiving as Allah, then I'd say it's not a reasonable expectation. Not only does He not need to forgive us, but He doesn't need anything from us either. No matter what ibadaat we do, it doesn't benefit Allah. On the other hand, no matter what sins we commit it doesn't result in any loss or harm to Him.
If you're expecting creation to be as forgiving as Allah, then I'd say it's not a reasonable expectation. Not only does He not need to forgive us, but He doesn't need anything from us either. No matter what ibadaat we do, it doesn't benefit Allah. On the other hand, no matter what sins we commit it doesn't result in any loss or harm to Him.
Are you suggesting that because He has no need to forgive us or no need for our ibadat hence it is easy for Him to forgive? I don't know if I agree with that because that would be reducing the value of His mercy.
The thing is that even though He needs nothing from us, He is still most-forgiving whereas, humanity does have a need for each other and yet we are unwilling to forgive. See my point?
A wisdom in the science of the Names and Attributes of Allah (SWT) is that there are some Attributes of Allah (SWT) that describe His separation and Power and there are others that describe His nearness and Love and Compassion.
You will find that for the Attributes of the second type they are superlatives. This means they express the meaning ... "Most" ... And then the attribute follows. In such cases we know Allah (SWT) will endow His creation to exhibit the same verb that is encapsulated in the superlative, but retains the uniqueness of the Superlative for His own Dhaat.
This way RasoolAllah (SAW) was called Rahmatul'Alameen. Mercy to the worlds ... Yet Most Merciful is reserved for Allah (SWT). It is clear that mercy can be obtained by humans rather the deeper wisdom is that it is human nobility to try to embody the human equivalent of those Divine Attributes ... Allah (SWT) is Truth and we must be truthful. Allah (SWT) is The Judge and we must be just with others and so on.
The person who believes The Attributes of Allah are his to become then that is heresy ...but if a person uses them to seek nearness with Allah (SWT) knowing this would never be possible he has preserved his belief and increased his piety.
"I know people who bow their heads in submission to Allah five times a day. They ask Him repeatedly to forgive them their sins. Yet when it comes time for them to forgive others, the offense is always too great to be pardoned."
I posted this as my status on Facebook two days ago. I got many likes, some shares and a few comments showing their agreement and how much the message hit home to them.
When I originally had the thought my sentiments came from the belief that if the force that is so mighty (i.e. Allah swt) as to have no need to forgive His creation can reassure us repeatedly of His desire to offer us forgiveness simply if we ask, then who are we to withhold such pardon to other mortals? What rank do we hold? Comparatively: none.
While it was just an observation of behaviour, I thought about it some more and a new question came up.....
Is it unreasonable to expect that mere mortals should have the same capacity to forgive trespasses against them as Allah?
Am I expecting too much of His creation?
Allah is ghafoor. His creation is not.
Yes humans should learn to forgive but no I don't have the right to expect forgiveness if I hurt someone. I can hope for forgiveness but not expect it. Yes it is preferable and loved by Allah if humans forgive but he does not punish if you don't forgive.
PS: I feel if I expect forgiveness from another human, I'm not truly remorseful for what I did.
Allah is ghafoor. His creation is not.
Yes humans should learn to forgive but no I don't have the right to expect forgiveness if I hurt someone. I can hope for forgiveness but not expect it. Yes it is preferable and loved by Allah if humans forgive but he does not punish if you don't forgive.
PS: I feel if I expect forgiveness from another human, I'm not truly remorseful for what I did.
That's a really interesting perspective.
Seeing it from the "expectation" side. I didn't think of it that way.
Agreed that His creation is not ghafoor but as psyah said in his post, it should be our goal to strive for the qualities that Allah has shown.
So is it really unreasonable to expect His creation to strive for the best state?
As for whether or not the act of not forgiving is punishable.....again, very different perspective......I've been seeing it from good, better and best so it never even occurred to me that there could have been a punishment for not forgiving. I merely thought that being able to forgive all would be qualified as the "best" state of imaan.
Furthermore.....the thought that I will not be punished if I decide not to forgive never came to mind.....
Yes, we should strive for those qualities but I don't have the right to judge another person for not having those qualities. I can point fingers at myself, but not at others. What he does is between him and Allah (swt) who am I to say anything to him, that too for something that Allah(swt) has not made punishable.
Forgiving or not forgiving is a choice. Not compulsion.
I believe If I make it a habit to forgive, I can ask Allah(swt) to forgive me as I forgave his creation and HE is more ghafoor than I am. I can ask him to give from his treasure to the human who chose not to forgive me instead of from my little bundle of good deeds.
PS: Just my thoughts. Not facts or anything.
PS2: This post sort of refers to the first para in this thread where it feels like 'pointing fingers'.
PS3: No offence intended.
The same merciful Rabb is said to not forgive the transgression we commit against each other until we seek forgiveness from the one who wronged us.
We're affected by different hurts in different ways. An offense that may not bother one person may be very keenly felt by another. Time can take the edge off the hurt some.
Yes, we should strive for those qualities but I don't have the right to judge another person for not having those qualities. I can point fingers at myself, but not at others. What he does is between him and Allah (swt) who am I to say anything to him, that too for something that Allah(swt) has not made punishable.
Forgiving or not forgiving is a choice. Not compulsion.
Agree with the above.
I believe If I make it a habit to forgive, I can ask Allah(swt) to forgive me as I forgave his creation and HE is more ghafoor than I am. I can ask him to give from his treasure to the human who chose not to forgive me instead of from my little bundle of good deeds.
PS: Just my thoughts. Not facts or anything.
PS2: This post sort of refers to the first para in this thread where it feels like 'pointing fingers'.
PS3: No offence intended.
Agree also with the sentiment that I can ask Allah to forgive me but He has made it very clear that we need to seek forgiveness from the person before we can be forgiven by Him.
Essentially there is always the final resort which would be to ask that He forgive us anyway provided we have made all the efforts we should.
Agree also with the sentiment that I can ask Allah to forgive me but He has made it very clear that we need to seek forgiveness from the person before we can be forgiven by Him.
Essentially there is always the final resort which would be to ask that He forgive us anyway provided we have made all the efforts we should.
Yes agreed, we need to make our effort and then leave the rest to Allah.